18 October 2020 — theplanningmotivedotcom
If Johnson was serious about a “No Deal Brexit”, his government would have prepared for one, particularly at this late stage. He would have put in place the necessary infrastructure – custom officers and posts, warehouses, tarmac, computer programs, a suite of forms available for companies and so on. Instead he has offered Porto Loos in Kent. To the chagrin of panicked importers and exporters, little is in place. According to the institute of directors, barely 50% of companies are ready. This is fortunate, because most have avoided the expense of a Hard Brexit or as it is now described, an Australian Brexit. Perhaps they clocked that there was always going to be a deal. Even the Tory Right “UK Freedom” fighters, who dabbled with“No-Deal”, know that in the face of a pandemic, a no-deal Brexit is economic suicide. Not so much throwing crates of fish overboard, as the gale sinking the whole damn fleet with all hands.
Whew. Finally, at last, the United Kingdom is formally leaving the European Union on Jan. 31. Here in Paris, the champions of French withdrawal from the EU are celebrating. They see Brexit as the harbinger of a future “Frexit,” a French departure from undemocratic governance, and the beginning of the end of a failed project to unify Europe around the demands of neoliberal capitalism.
